As is well known, the fish and game laws of the various states regulate the size of the fish which may be kept by the fisherman; requiring that all fish under the limit be released so that they may grow to at least the legal size. Fish size limits are a common means for conserving fish resources by preventing overdepletion of fish populations, and as such, fish size regulations are strictly and often severely enforced.
However, it has remained for the fishermen to determine a convenient and quick way to measure a live fish which does not cooperate with being caught and endeavors to escape, much less acquiesce to being measured. As has been well recognized, the use of a tape, ruler or yardstick type devices, while commonly available, are difficult to handle at the same time as a live fish. The fish typically will not remain still and extended for sufficient time to permit measurement and the fisherman is in danger of being stuck by the hook still within the fish. If the fish is unhooked to remove this hazard, then the fisherman is at risk of losing the fish during the cumbersome measuring operation.
A number of devices have been crafted to address these problems, For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,474,804 discloses a fish measure having a body and a pair of shoulders spaced thereon at a predetermined distance. The shoulders readily provide a quick visual and tactile means of judging the size of the fish without having to read a scale, but there is not provided a way of restraining the movement of the live fish which assuredly will not lay straight upon the ruler-like stick.
A measuring device which is a hollow body formed of a moldable polystyrene, polypropylene, butyrate, etc. and open at one end is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,988. At least one wall is transparent extending the full length of the enclosure and the fish can be judged as longer or shorter than the body for ready measurement. Measuring indicia may be present along the wall. This device appreciates and provides a mechanism for restraining the movement of the fish. However, in measuring the fish with this device one must unhook the fish first, which risks losing the fish, first while attempting to get it into the device and then again if it turns out the fish is of retainable size while attempting to get an unhooked fish onto a stringer or into a creel or live box. Additionally, since the length of the fish must usually be determined with its mouth closed, the fish's mouth can not be closed once it has been inserted into this hollow body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,617 discloses an elongated, upwardly opening V-shaped trough for measuring fish. The trough has spaced apart indicia at measured intervals from one closed end of the trough for indicating the length of a fish placed in the trough. Auxiliary indicia are placed at appropriate distances along the trough to signify the legal limit for various species of fish likely to be encountered by a fisherman. While the use of labels such as "CRAPPIE" at 10", "BASS" at 13", "WALLEYE" at 15"etc. are easier to discern than memorizing the legal limits and then reading a numerical scale, a live fish will often not lie still in the V-shaped trough measuring. In attempting to restrain the fish being measured in such apparatus it is possible that it might be fatally injured and thus is wasted if it was undersized and cannot grow to the legal limit.
A device for simultaneously holding and measuring the length of a fish is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,607 which has a rectangular tray open at one end, the tray having a bottom, two side walls and one end wall and a preferably hinged lid with a releasable latch. The length of the tray is made equal to the minimum legal length established for the type of fish with which the device is to be used. The length of the lid is less than the length of the bottom of the tray and the lid is disposed on the tray with one end of the lid generally aligned with the closed end of the tray, such that a portion of the bottom of the tray adjacent to the open end is not covered by the lid. A fish is placed in the device with its nose against the end wall at the closed end of the tray, and the lid is closed to loosely retain the fish in the device. If the tail of the fish extends outwardly beyond the open end of the tray, the fish is of legal size and may be retained by the fisherman. While the inventor of this device appreciates the need for restraining the fish so that an accurate but quick measurement is obtained, the use of a tray with a hinged lid is again cumbersome. Despite descriptions that the apparatus can be easily used, it is readily seen that opening and closing the lid while inserting and removing the fish from the device risks injury to the fish. The use of a moving part (the hinge) also increases the possibility that the apparatus might break and additionally increases the cost of the device.
Both devices of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,617 and 5,148,607 are also suffer from the relatively large and heavy and thus limited to boat use. People who prefer to wade fish, float fish or dock fish need a relatively small, lightweight, portable device that can be readily carried on one's person.
It would be desirable to discover a device for quickly, easily and accurately measuring the length of fish, whether hooked or not, and in such a way that the fish is restrained during measurement, but which simultaneously exposes the fish to a minimum risk of injury by reducing the amount of handling required.